


The Embrace of Destiny

by dwyndling



Series: chi [3]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, Destiny's Embrace (Keyblade), Gen, Keyblade Wielder Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Keyblade Wielders (Kingdom Hearts), Keyblade-centric, Keyblades (Kingdom Hearts), Post Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:08:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22063798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dwyndling/pseuds/dwyndling
Summary: A rain of stars. The gentle breeze. An ephemeral sunset, caught up in eternity.
Series: chi [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1583548
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	The Embrace of Destiny

There is a whisper of it, in the light that forms into this specific heart. 

A sleeping legacy...a world’s lifetime of mysteries and deception spiralling out into a destiny carefully and carelessly wrought. This light is old, carrying with it faint and gentle memories of things no one should remember.

A heart made purely of light. A rarity...a blessing. Picked to safeguard the light...for what place could be more safe than the heart of a young maiden?

_She can’t have been more than four years old. The events are not even contained within her conscious memory. A woman, dressed in flowing armor and a gentle smile, saves her from the strange monsters that day._

_Her hand brushes against the lady’s weapon. She doesn’t understand the gentle glow that washes over her heart in that instant. Too small, too young. It lies within, waiting._

It breaks like the dawn, gentle, but with a blazing, radiant light.

The first time she ever holds it, she’s amazed at how light it feels. How well it fits in her hands. It slices through the creeping and crawling shadows with dexterity. The rush of power that wells up in her at this newfound ability...it’s intoxicating.

_Finally...I won’t be left behind anymore, not when I have this._

Not only does it feel sturdy and glimmering, it looks how it feels. Metal curling into leaves and vines, flowers adorning the curves and ripples of it. The colors are not dulled, instead glistening like the flowers and ocean they represent.

The memories of that day are mingled, but it the crowning glory of it all is her jubilee at finally, _finally,_ seeing Sora and Riku again. Reunited at last...it’s more than she would’ve dared to hope for, even as she never stopped wishing for it.

And of course, what feels like barely moments after, they are ripped away from her again, off to complete some heroic deed or die trying. 

It startles her, the first time the keyblade fades out of her grip, even as she objectively understands the idea. When it’s all over, when the boys are safe and sound again and all dried off, she summons it over and over in the privacy of her own room, just watching the pretty weapon fade in and out of existence. 

When the sorcerer calls for her, it is the treat of a lifetime. Special lessons, for her mysterious new power? She can’t wait to begin. 

Having to train with the assassin who kidnapped her and attempted to un-kidnap her is a little bit of a downer at first, but any awkwardness is quickly smoothed over with how frank they both are. Soon enough, they’re bantering like chums, even when Lea sometimes stares at her with an expression she doesn’t know how to describe as anything other than ‘sad’.

_I wonder who he sees when he looks at me. Maybe I remind him of Namin_ _é_ _...thought I’m not quite sure how those two knew each other._

Life in the Secret Forest continues on. The days pass, and at first she can’t help but wonder how many days here count for how many minutes in the world she left behind, or if time is passing for Sora and Riku at all. Are they alright? Are they eating well? Has Riku cut his bangs yet or will she have to take drastic measures when she gets back?

Her training begins, and promptly puts those thoughts to rest. She falls asleep the instant her head hits the pillow at night, no energy left to muse or worry on anything other than the present moment. 

The light from the key sleeping in her heart lifts her up, sending her bounding towards mastery of it.

It comes to her like a waterfall pouring down on her head. The exact sensation of the light coalescing in her grip, the rush of pure white when she strikes downwards, calling the keyblade’s power to her and feeling it rush through her veins with all the strength of a coursing river. Her muscles are sore for days after that, but she is more alive than ever, bursting with potentially and raw energy ready to be refined. 

It almost feels like the key, as it sits away in the depths of her heart, is burning, with a mad desire begging to be quenched. She hungers for something, and it’s difficult to put words to, but the key understands. There’s something calling her as she holds it in her grip, something that beckons her on, and on, ever forward, keep fighting little one, my strength is yours because our strength is _alike._

Training to fight is at once both intuitive and the weirdest thing she’s ever done. Merlin’s furniture aren’t very interesting opponents, but they’re both fast and dodgy, and the amount of bruises she carries from the feisty coffee table in particular is frankly a little humiliating. It’s grueling, but it carries with it it’s own satisfaction when everyday she’s a little bit faster, a little bit stronger, a little bit more prepared. 

Fighting Lea...now that’s something else.

Using the keyblade in battle against a human opponent is not quite what she expected. It’s certainly different from batting away at waves of small shadowy heartless, that’s for sure. Lea is much stronger, much taller, and has much more combat experience to draw on...even if his own grasp of the keyblade is thus far shaky at best.

She quickly gets addicted to the shockwave the runs through her arms when their blades clang together. Learning to fight is not easy at all, and lots of days she wouldn’t even call it fun, but the pure satisfaction when she dodges out of Lea’s way and sticks out a leg to trip him and _succeeds_ is like nothing else. That...that much is fun.

The Keyblade Graveyard. That’s not fun.

At first, it is only the throng of monsters that attack them. It’s certainly a change from feisty furniture, or even Lea, but as the flowered keyblade cuts through Shadows and Dusks alike, her heart soars. There is no happiness or joy, not in this dance of violence, but there is the satisfaction that with every swing, every monster that she slices through, the people she loves are all the safer. Every Heartless who’s heart she sets free is a Heartless who cannot sneak up on Sora or Riku any longer. 

With that thought in mind, she stands tall with the others. Even as their opponents approach, even as things begin to go sideways, she keeps her chin up. The key in her chest is as stalwart as ever, uncowed by the wrinkled countenance of their foe.

The darkness that surrounds them...that catches them up and drowns them in it’s inky void...even that does not make the light of the key stutter. If anything, she shines all the brighter, when surrounded by such abject shadows. Her light is exerted to a certain limit, and as she floats there, all she can think about is Sora. He won’t fail. He never does, not when the stakes are this high. The key twinkles, it knows things she doesn’t say.

Her heart feels like it’s about to burst when he finally appears there, his light joining hers in the endless gloom. He’s just as bright as ever, delighted to see her, eager to keep pushing forward. 

_Is this...I know what this is. But I won’t say. It’s not time for that...not now._

They alight, back in the realm they were dragged out of. She shines in the dry midday sun, and the key shines with her. 

Fighting the cloaked figure who bears a perfect copy of Sora’s keyblade is odd in more ways than one, but she keeps her feet under her. Something about the rush of the high stakes, the cold thrill of _it’s for real this time,_ keeps her grounded, even as her heart threatens to stutter it’s way out of her chest. 

Then, her wrist is caught up in a grip like a vice, and all the exhilaration bubbling up in her throat puffs away in a single breathe. She’s too caught off guard to even struggle against Xemnas, and before she knows it, there’s a light blow to the back of her head and-

She doesn’t know anything anymore. Everything is grey, a certain kind of pale darkness that the key glints dully through, only half realized in this unconscious space.

And then everything is black.

Time hangs in the balance, unraveling...unwinding from the perfect tapestry it was woven into. 

Her heart flickers, and suddenly, with the radiance of rose petals, the light coalesces into something called ‘Kairi’ once again. Sora’s arms are there, winding around her firmly as she buries her face in his neck. 

The being who faces them is some unholy amalgamation of darkness and nothingness, trapped in the guise of goat-like armor. It dives for them, seemingly bent on nothing more than pure destruction of all who it faced. 

Destiny’s Embrace burns in her grip, like a phoenix suddenly bursting out of crumbled ashes. Light, exuberant, Light, indomitable. Meteors rain down from above and pillars of fire burst in the sky...and her grip remains tight around her keyblade. 

Light...something far from understandable.

Sea and sky stretches in every direction. Home is waiting...but first, there are people to see, and hearts to deliver. It should be joyous, a victory lap with the person she’d perhaps missed the most, but it seems even now there is a tinge of bittersweetness to the way her friend looks at her. Something...far far too kind. 

It doesn’t quite make sense until they’re seated on the tree once again. And then, as the bright light flickers once beside her, that nebulous feeling of dread begins reveal itself for what it really was. 

Light...Sora fades quietly into the light of the sunset. Her own light, her pure heart without a single taint of darkness, cries out with an anguish she has not known for years. 

Brightly, goes the princess. Brightly, she falls asleep.


End file.
